I want to protect you and your loved ones from becoming victims of crimes by the catholic church and all abusers of human beings. I want to give survivors of sexual and physical abuse a voice to be heard all over the world. All abuse of children and adults by religious groups and by any organization or individual must be stopped. We can add our voices to a growing, worldwide community of people who want truth and justice. Please share your experiences with me and others on this blog.

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Friday, May 1, 2015

Catholic Nuns and Priests murdered and tortured children: are you listening Pope Francis? Part IV. No Justice in New York. A five part weekly series on catholic church crimes

Bishop Howard Hubbard, Albany, NY Diocese

Why
do investigations of murdered children go nowhere in New York? Answer: Bishops
and District Attorneys

We
have evidence, witnesses, and articles in the press – yet there is no justice
for Gilbert, for me and my brother Frankie, for all the other children tortured
and murdered. Why? Because catholic
church hierarchy – like bishop Howard Hubbard -- ignore, refuse to cooperate,
cover up for priests that rape children and are themselves suspects in cases of
child abuse, homosexuality and abuse of power.

Hubbard
uses church funds to avoid homosexual label

There
were longstanding rumors, protests and accusations of sexual misconduct and
homosexual relationships between Bishop Hubbard and minors for many years --
but he was not removed from office – only his reputation suffered. Then in
2004, so-called “independent investigators” paid for by the Albany Diocese (by Hubbard)
cleared Hubbard of allegations of sexual misconduct. What did Hubbard do? The reporter who told the story, Michelle
Bolton at the Albany Times Union lost her job -- she told Bob that she would,
but she ran it anyway.

On
Feb. 15, 2004, 57 year old Rev. John Minkler's body was found by his sister on
the kitchen floor of his Watervliet apartment, lying face down on a blanket. An
unidentified bottle of prescription drugs was found by Minkler's side, along
with a suicide note. Albany County Coroner Herman Thomas would not say what the
autopsy reports specifically showed; saying only that it was a suicide.

Three
days before his death, Minkler was identified in a television news report as
the author of a 1995 letter to then New York Archbishop John O'Connor detailing
"a ring of homosexual Albany priests" including Bishop Howard
Hubbard’s alleged long-term homosexual relationships with two younger priests.

Minkler
died two days after he signed a statement for the Albany Diocese saying he was
not the author of the letter. The letter also included a description of many
other local priests said to have had homosexual relations with adults and
children.

The
day after Minkler's death Hubbard said that Minkler came of his own free will –
“… he told me that he did not author the letter, and he wanted to be with me
face-to-face and to assure me that he had not written anything to Cardinal
O’Connor about me…and he did not know how his name got associated with the
letter."

Stephen
Brady, head of the Illinois-based Roman Catholic Faithful, contradicted Hubbard
and said Minkler had been working with his lay group for at least three years
in order to document homosexual misconduct and abuse among Albany priests,
including Hubbard. Brady told Albany’s Times-Union that the priest left him a
voice mail message asking for advice the day before his death.

Brady
said that Minkler authored the 1995 letter and sent him a copy of it in 2001.

Paul
Likoudis, news editor for The Wanderer, said Minkler called him shortly after
signing the affidavit and said that contrary to Hubbard’s claim, he was
summoned to sign it. Likoudis said Minkler explained that the affidavit was
already made out and he was told to sign it.

In
an hour long phone conversation with Fr. Joseph F. Wilson of the Diocese of
Brooklyn that same evening Minkler told him: "the bishop made me
lie." Wilson said Minkler wanted advice on how to smooth things over with
his bishop and told him he had talked with at least one other priest and a lay
canon lawyer for more advice that same evening. "Not exactly the actions
of a man who’s planning to commit suicide," said Fr. Wilson.

Likoudis
also said that Minkler, was a former secretary to Cardinal O’Connor and was
asked by him to prepare a report of clerical corruption in the Albany diocese
because O’Connor was trying to remove Hubbard. Likoudis told a crowd of 500
Roman Catholic Faithful a week after Minkler’s death that for 13 years Minkler
had been a trusted source of inside information in the Diocese of Albany.

Minkler
wasn’t the first priest associated with Roman Catholic Faithful to die under
mysterious circumstances. In 1998 Fr. Alfred Kunz, an accomplished canon lawyer
helping expose homosexual corruption in the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois
was murdered at his rural Wisconsin parish. His throat was slit by a razor
blade, and he bled to death before his body was discovered the next morning.
Although the subject of one of the most extensive FBI investigations in
Wisconsin history, the murder of Fr. Kunz remains a mystery. Less than two
years after his death Springfield’s Bishop Daniel Ryan resigned after Frank
Bergen, a former male prostitute, identified the bishop as one of his regular
high-paying clients for 11 years, going so far as to describe in detail the
bishop’s private residence. Bishop Ryan, like Hubbard, persistently denied that
charge and others for years.

Regarding
Minkler’s death, "We don't accept the findings of the coroner," said
Phillip Kiernan, who headed the Coalition of Concerned Catholics of the Albany
Diocese, a conservative group that has taken Hubbard to task for the ills of
his diocese. "I'm a traditional Catholic, but this has a smell to
it," Kiernan said. "Father Minkler had heart and stomach ailments.
But now I'm beginning to wonder, because this looks like a cover-up."

It
did look suspicious: the coroner confirmed the suicide by telephone from his
home after he was called by a reporter but made no official statement on the
case. The

Albany
County District Attorney Paul Clyne was also called at home but said he was not
aware of the autopsy results. Why didn’t the coroner tell the district attorney?
Why did the toxicology results take two months after Minkler’s death?

Fr.
Wilson who had spoken to Minkler after signing the "disclaimer" said
he was interviewed by two private investigators working for Mary Jo White, the
lawyer hired to investigate Howard Hubbard (see below). They told Wilson,
"Well, we've interviewed a number of people who spoke to Father Minkler
from Friday afternoon to Saturday night, and they all say what you're telling
us: he was in good spirits, none of them were concerned for his state of mind.
So between, say, 9:30 PM Saturday and early Sunday morning, something happened
to change things."

Victims’
rights advocates have criticized Bishop Hubbard for his opposition to the U.S.
bishops "zero tolerance" policy adopted by the national conference in
2002. That policy states that any priest who has had sexual contact with a
child—even if only once—be removed from ministry immediately and permanently.
Bishop Hubbard defended his stance in the name of "compassion and forgiveness"
for first time offenders. So is it his policy to allow one child to be raped
for each priest rapist?

Many
Catholics in the Diocese of Albany and beyond have also been critical of Bishop
Hubbard for further reasons, not the least of which is promotion of a
homosexualist agenda within the Catholic Church. For example, in 1991 the
bishop defended his practice of ordaining known homosexual priests, telling the
Times Union: "I believe the Church has a responsibility to all its
members…I don’t think gays or anybody else should be excluded from the
ministry. [What about murders or child rapists?] Indeed, I think we have a responsibility to
reach out to them with sensitivity and compassion" (Feb. 22, 1991).

How
did bishop Hubbard, with a reputation for defying church policy, advocating for
homosexuals in the church and ignoring the pleas of families with tortured and
murdered children get to keep his position until 2014 when he retired? He did it with damage control and friends in
high places. We will see how high his influence went in Part V of this series
next week.

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About Me

When I was three and a half years old, I and my five year
old brother Frankie were raped by a catholic priest and put in St. Agnes Home and School in Sparkill, NY. I was beaten every day and then smothered by a catholic
nun. I didn't die but I was in a coma for almost year, leaving me brain damaged. After we got out, my
brother killed himself because he couldn't help me or accept the abuse we received. I want everyone to know
about the brutality and crime then and still going on in the catholic church. I want to stop
the crimes the church commits against our children and us and get justice for the victims. Give me your ideas
so that we all succeed in making this world safer for our children.